Member Article

Local Entrepreneur nominated for everywoman award 2017

CEO and founder of County Durham based C.I.C. Special iApps, Beverley Dean, has been shortlisted as a finalist for the 2017 FDM everywoman in Technology Awards.

The nomination lands her in the ‘Inspiration Award’ category (sponsored by VMware), which recognises the innovative work of a ‘male or female, for their active commitment to encouraging, advancing, sponsoring or championing the progress of women working in technology’.

Beverley founded Special iApps back in 2011, as she noticed existing educational apps didn’t quite match the needs of her youngest son William, who has Down syndrome.

She has continued to build Special iApps into the award winning business it is today. With her husband, Colin, she creates educational apps for children with special educational needs, including autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy.

Beverley began her career developing software in Cambridge, taking time out to be a full-time Mum to her two sons before returning to work. This is why the nomination for inspiring other women to broaden their horizons in the Tech world is especially close to her heart:

“It’s an honour just to be shortlisted for the FDM everywoman in technology award, especially in such a wonderful category. I’ve already really enjoyed the process so far – travelling down to London for my interview was a brilliant opportunity to meet a lot of the other inspirational candidates who have been nominated.

“When I first started working with technology, I could only name a handful of women who were in the industry. It’s really exciting now to see that with the advances made with social media, blogs and the internet that more opportunities are being made for women to work within technology, also supporting flexible working. Women can do tech!”

The 2017 FDM everywoman in Technology Awards ceremony and dinner will take place on 9 February 2017 at the London Hilton on Park Lane preceded by the everywoman Technology Forum - the largest UK forum for men and women in technology, a day of inspiration, learning and development, bringing together over 600 women who are aspiring to advance their careers or become future leaders. Keynote speakers include Nick Jenkins, founder of Moonpig.com and senior leaders from Harvey Nichols, Worldpay UK, ARM and Dell, as well as technology entrepreneurs and innovators.

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This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lauren Dodd .